


i'd rather be a lover than a fighter

by Drake



Series: it may not be a millenium yet, but who's counting? [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Husbands, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25230448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drake/pseuds/Drake
Summary: Every death brings the fear that it's their last, the bated breath, the worry.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: it may not be a millenium yet, but who's counting? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1829071
Comments: 78
Kudos: 829





	i'd rather be a lover than a fighter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ghrelt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghrelt/gifts).



> Hello hi I'm just coming off the heels of writing a 150k fic and these two just waltzed into my life and my head and they can stay there rent-free as long as they like i am HERE FOR IT thank u for my life
> 
> (Happy early birthday, Ghrelt; and no, this isn't all you're getting <3)

The worry never leaves. Every time Joe’s breath stops, blood pooling out beneath him, Nicky feels his heart stop too. The rush in his ears, the red he sees, and more often than not, before he knows it, he’s dropped his gun and pulled his longsword, closing the distance to make it _personal_. They hurt Joe, and he’s going to make sure they suffer worse. 

It doesn’t matter which war it is. What year. Which building. Or who he’s killing. All that matters is they killed Joe, and he’s going to finish dealing with them before his world wakes up again, so he can be there for him, hold him as his body knits itself back together. 

This one happens to be in a desert, so like the one in which they met, in which they were each others’ demise until they both realized the futility of killing an unkillable man. That they had may as well learn why fate brought them together, instead of trying to end each other again, and again. It hadn’t taken long after they left the Crusades behind for them to fall for, and into, each other. Before they’d learned each other’s languages, before Nicky learned that Joe’s artistic nature extended from his hands, to his mouth, to all of him.

He dances through the room, furious, each pivot punctuated by a slash, a bloody gurgle, more bullets fired. Some hit, most do not. He doesn’t notice, the adrenaline carrying him across until he sidesteps a shotgun from the last man, using the momentum to plunge his sword through the man’s throat. Twisting, ripping to the side, and letting him fall limp to the floor, dead before his body makes that heavy thud. So like the one Joe had made-

Nicky spins on his heel, rushing back to where Joe lay, dropping to his knees and sliding the last few feet separating them. 

“Joe, _amore mio_ ,” he breathes, his hands cupping Joe’s cheeks. He hasn’t moved, his pupils are wide and still, and it’s taking too long. Every time- every time this happens, he fears the worst. That this is the end and he’s about to be left as alone as Booker carries himself to be. There was no rhyme or reason to the exact length it would take for them to come back. Particularly egregious wounds took longer, as Nicky could attest to with the time he’d been speared through by a handful of halberds and javelins. But even as he looks across Joe’s body, the bulletholes like a field of stars up his chest, he just sees how Joe had shoved him to the side and taken the brunt of that first volley. It shouldn’t be so bad. 

Nicky shifts, pulling Joe’s head in his lap, leaning over him to press a kiss to his bloody forehead. He rocks gently back and forth, his breath caught in his throat, for what seems an eternity. 

Until finally, _finally_ , Joe takes a deep, rattling breath, a groan caught in his throat as he comes back to life, arching up off the ground with the fresh pain bringing him back. His hands seek out something - a weapon, instinctively - but they find Nicky’s hands, and he grips as tightly as he can, grounded in his love’s presence. 

“Took your time there, huh, love?” he asks, smiling warm and relieved, pressing another kiss to his forehead as he grasps Joe’s arms, and Joe does the same. 

Not yet. It wasn’t their time yet. All he can hope is that when it is their time, they both go together. That’s all he can ask for. Until then, he’ll just hold him as he heals, the sound of bullets slowly pushing out of his body punctuating the silence. 

“Ngh- did I? Guess I needed a nap,” Joe answers him, a ragged smile as each hole closes up, one by one, until the only signs left of his death are the ruined shirt and the blood he was laying in. 

“You know you can have that back at the barracks.”

“That and more,” Joe says, his grin a little sharper. He could sit up now, but he quite likes his head in Nicky’s lap like this. And there’s no sounds of other gunfire nearby. Either the fighting has stalled for a little, or ended. Either way, they seem to be safe in here for now.

“You’re insatiable, you know that?” Nicky asks, though he’s grinning too. Warmth and relief and the rush of the adrenaline finally easing. 

“You are no different. I simply say it aloud so you don’t have to,” Joe says, patting his arm, before pushing himself up on an elbow to sit upright.

Nicky interrupts the motion, leaning over to kiss him, a smile on his lips and the taste of copper between them as he pushes him back down, his nose pressed against his love’s beard. Joe is laughing against him, reaching up to cup the back of his head and pull him in.

And if he rolls them over, twisting so that he can kiss him right side up this time, there’s no one but the desert air around them to notice. They won’t be missed for a little longer, yet. 

**Author's Note:**

> comments are my lifeblood, and make me open a new empty word doc all the faster c;
> 
> if y'all are looking for more friends who can't get over the old guard, come join our [discord!](https://discord.gg/kDJpjxx)
> 
> PS!!! if you loooove this relationship dynamic and you've already read all the old guard fics that exist, go check out my vampire au for a different game (deus ex), [Fangs Sharpened](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20788058), full of this same immortal affection


End file.
